Free thoughts on CRM, Business and the next big thing

A new paradigm for Customer Service is increasingly leading the way during the last weeks. A paradigm which is based on the new Internet of Things revolution and that has begun to stimulate the curiosity of different people working on this topic. Last week Don Scheibenreif, a Gartner Research VP, has published an interesting post where he asks which are the next impacts on marketing, sales and customer service strategies and processes when smart objects will start to interact each other. Moreover, another post this week by Peter Zeinoun attempt to introduce the new concept of “Support of Things” with all the consequences you can imagine on customer experience.

Here I try to develop what I have in mind about the effects of something bigger than the Internet of Thing (IoT) on customer-facing processes. When I say “bigger” I mean that I want to move the focus on what Cisco called Internet of Everything (IoE) or a condition where smart objects and people interacts each other in real-time, exchanging data and giving the right information to trigger specific actions or improve/create processes.

This repositioning is fundamental because using this point of view, you’ll better understand the extent of this big shift on a Customer Service strategy. Try to imagine an IoE world where, practically, every home device (fridge, dishwasher, washing machine, thermostat, burglar alarm, garage door, etc.) or different wearable/mobile objects (shoes, wristband, watch, dress, tablet, phone, etc.) are connectible. Each of them can generate a huge amount of data that is the code, in a specific format, that explain how you are using it, how it “reacts” to your usage during its lifecycle, how and whom it has interacted with and so on.

All this data can create the big picture of human choices, habits and behaviours; a sort of real-time profile that a manufacturer can analyse to understand deeply its customers.

Just as an example, watch this video from Cisco and try to imagine how these possibilities can be expanded considering the information that objects can deliver in our behalf considering the actual use of them.